Day 12: Sunny Hills

After a long night working we didn't wake up today until about noon. I feel like it was a waste of a day, but today was actually one of the most fun days I've had here so far despite the late start. We finally had our first free day since we've been here so we got to spend the day doing whatever the heck we wanted! I had every intention of doing homework today but that just didn't work out.

But we did still see plenty of architecture, our first stop being the Sunny Hills Cake shop by Kengo Kuma. I had also done research on this building before online so it was really cool getting to see it in person and actually get to go inside. It was a lot more beautiful than I ever expected and the construction seemed so simple but it was also very complex at the same time. I think Kengo Kuma is good at taking a complex construction method and making it seem simple and elegant. The building was also built out of very simple materials but I think it still becomes very beautiful. After walking around inside for a while and taking pictures of all of the sliding doors and bathrooms they invited us to come and have tea in the tea room.

They gave us free tea and a sample of the pineapple cakes that they sell. They were both so good, but the pineapple cake gave me a stomach ache so I decided not to buy a full sized one. So we left without actually paying for anything but I had a really great time here.

After Sunny Hills we walked backed down Omotesando Street to see all of the luxury stores and architecture in the daylight. We walked all the way down the street this time and saw Prada, Cartier, Chanel, Dior, and my favorite, Tod's by Toyo Ito:

We went into a few of the stores and looked around but of course didn't buy anything. We then went to a store called "Kiddy Land" that a Japanese person recommended to us and I bought a lot of stuff in there instead.  It was a toy store with different themes for each level so they had everything from Star Wars to the Peanuts characters to all of the Japanese characters like Totoro and Hello Kitty. It was a lot of fun and everything in there was so cute! I managed to buy only a few things for myself and a lot of stuff for other people but I spent way too much in there. 

After our shopping spree we went back to eat dinner at our favorite hipster spot. I am kind of obsessed with this place now and I ate a "pizza dog" this time. The food is so good, but I think I need to start eating more Japanese type foods from now on. After our delicious food we went for our first night out in Roppongi and what an experience this was. Walking the street was pretty scary and not what I would have expected. There were guys everywhere that were not Japanese just yelling and trying to get you to go to certain places or trying to sell you stuff. It was weird. But we eventually found a nice British Pub to start the night off and we met some nice friends in here that were also from America. Luckily they knew they area and they took us to a few clubs after this. It was a fun night but I'm not sure that I need to go out here again.